Antonio Conte is relishing his return to the Tottenham dugout tonight and has called on his team to embrace the pressure of a must-win Champions League last-16 second leg tie with AC Milan.
Conte is back in London after spending the last two-and-a-half weeks recuperating in Italy following surgery to remove his gallbladder.
The 53-year-old returns with Spurs reeling after exiting the FA Cup last week and with defeat at Wolves on Saturday damaging hopes of another top-four finish.
Doctors ordered Conte to rest after the 1-0 defeat at the San Siro in the first leg on February 14 but the stakes will be even higher tonight and while the Italian feels he can handle the heat, he says his players must be ready to do the same.
‘The pressure? We live for this type of game, we live for this type of moment because when the pressure is going up, it means your level is going up,’ he said.
‘Don’t forget last season we play Conference League and this season we’re playing Champions League. We won our group, the first leg we lost 1-0 and we have the possibility to beat Milan and then to go to the next round.
‘We have to be ready to go game by game. Tomorrow the obstacle is Milan and we have to beat them with two goals if we want to go to the next round. The pressure is normal and we have to live with this type of pressure.
‘Maybe if there is one thing we have to try to improve, the whole environment here, is to live with the pressure.
‘To live with the pressure means to sometimes be a bit stressed and not always to be in peace with yourself but to stress yourself and to put pressure in a positive way.
‘I think that in this aspect we can improve a lot and the whole environment can improve a lot.’
Spurs forward Heung-min Son said Conte’s timely return to the capital will give the team an ‘amazing boost and an amazing energy’ and insisted victory in north London tonight can revive their season.
‘Tomorrow could be our most important game of the season,’ said the Korean. ‘I think this game, if we turn it around, I think it could be a changing of the season and give us a little bit more confidence and a boost.’
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